1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card-operated copying machine, and more particularly to a copying machine operable to allow copying operation on the insertion of a key checking card in order to keep a record of the number of copies taken in each of a plurality of office sections or divisions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
One conventional way to keep records of how many copies have been taken in a plurality of office sections or divisions has been to assign copy counter units to the respective stations, and mount the copy counter unit for each section on a copying machine to enable the copy counter unit to count the number of copies taken. When clearing the total copy counts for all sections, it has been necessary to gather all of the copy counter units and clear the counts in the copy counter units. This is an independent supervising item to be processed. For totaling the numbers of copies made in all sections, another supervising item is required to gather the copy counter units and total the counts. This prior supervising method has suffered from various shortcomings. It is possible to run the copying machine in one section with a counter unit given to another section. When the counter unit in a section has been lost, it has been impossible to inhibit copying operation in that section, and the supervising item to total the copies taken in all sections could not be carried out. The conventional method includes other supervising items, and each such item has been complex and inconvenient to perform.
Various efforts have been made to eliminate the complexity of totaling copies with the copy counter units. One such prior proposal is the use of cards with section codes recorded respectively thereon, the cards being given to respective sections. The card enables the counter in the copying machine to count copies taken in each section. This known method however has failed to prevent personnel in one section from using a lost card belonging to another section for copying operation. According to another prior attempt, cards with supervising item codes recorded respectively thereon have been used to process the supervising items. This process is troublesome in that cards need to be changed each time a particular supervising item is to be processed.